


It's not like you're a porn star

by melonbutterfly



Series: Not A Porn Star [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Domestic, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-21
Updated: 2011-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-14 22:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/154207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three months into their relationship, John finally reveals a secret of his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's not like you're a porn star

They've been together for three months, known each other for five, when John puts his hand on Rodney's knee, wearing an earnest expression. It's Friday morning, 3 am; they both have irregular sleeping cycles – they both like being awake at night, and both their jobs have very flexible working hours. Rodney still doesn't really know what John actually does; he reads a lot when he's at home and plays around with airplane designs, both mathematically and artistically. He's brilliant at the designing; some of his more creative ideas make Rodney have wild thoughts about both of them starting a company together and making pilots and the military cry with the beauty of the planes and jets they produce. But he doesn't think it's actually what John earns his money with; he's oddly bashful about it and hesitated at first showing them to Rodney. He also at first tried to defer to Rodney's opinion; as if Rodney knows better about this sort of thing when it was him who studied Aeronautical Engineering, just because Rodney is a scientist. Rodney of course won't have any of it. He doesn't have much to do with planes or flying at work, and the beauty of the ideas John has is captivating, no matter if they're sensible or economic.

Rodney doesn't mind not knowing what John does; he checked in with the lab's security team just to see if there had been anything wonky about him. Because of privacy reasons, they aren't allowed to tell him anything unless there's something wrong, but all they had had for him were some weird looks. John is completely clean, and well, if he doesn't want to talk about his work yet, Rodney can wait. They have other things to share, and Rodney would've never thought he'd enjoy to be in a relationship with someone with whom he can't talk about work (what with the NDA's and the fact that up until John, he usually had relationships with people he knew from work), but now he sees that it's the best thing that could've happened to him. It's so _relaxing_.

Of course, he's still damn curious what John is really doing and why it's so big a secret, but he's, in an unusual display of patience, willing to let John tell him at his own time. He's still confounded by that, but he and John simply share different things; work is less than secondary where things they share are concerned.

Now it seems the time has finally come where John tells him what's going on.

"Rodney," John says. They're eating a stir-fry they just made together, with chicken and rice and vegetables; John has this weird domestic idea that couples should cook together, and though Rodney has never been much of a cook, he both enjoys the preparing of the food and the consuming of it.

"Hmm?", Rodney hums back.

But John doesn't continue; he hedges a little and nibbles at some peppers, fingers flexing on Rodney's knee, then says "Uhm. You wanna go visit Aunt May later today?"

Which is definitely not what he originally intended to say. John's aunt May is the one who raised John basically from the point on his mother died; his father was some Army Colonel or something and had been of the absent kind. John doesn't like talking about anything before he came to stay with his aunt; talking about her, on the other hand, is no problem. She seems like a pretty interesting woman, from what John discloses, and that impression of Rodney's had been confirmed when he had met her.

Well, he hadn't actually met her face to face; they had talked three times on the telephone, because she and John talked regularly and on occasion she demanded to talk to Rodney. But Rodney is curious to finally meet her in person; she is special to John, and he wants to meet the person who has helped him become the man he is today. He doesn't really mind that John is stalling talking about his job.

"Sure," he says.

That's how he finds himself, fourteen hours later, in a nice, decently-sized house. It's not exactly posh per se, but it's certainly not cheap; John's aunt obviously isn't poor. She is, however, very nice, and not in the annoying, friendly sort of way; she's nice in the way that Rodney appreciates, the way John is nice. Direct and with no hesitation to speak her mind, she sets to embarrassing John fully and completely in the way all parents do in front of their son or daughter's partner. But she does it in a way that doesn't make Rodney uncomfortable; John is beet-red and squirming, but he doesn't look humiliated. He also gives back as good as he gets. Rodney supposes it's a sort of routine between them, much like the sort of communication Rodney has with his sister.

May is also delighted to finally meet Rodney in person; she says that she couldn't really stand most of John's previous partners because, as she puts it, "the boy has little to no insight into human nature". At that point she pats Rodney's hand and says "No offence, dear" and then offers him some hot chocolate. Rodney can appreciate a person who doesn't go all "but it's summer" on him where hot chocolate is concerned. This is California; it's _always_ summer, duh. Besides, he sees no logical correlation between season and food that has no correlation to weather and growth.

About half an hour into the visit, May turns to Rodney and says, "Say, Rodney, you don't watch many movies, do you?"

Rodney blinks at the question, but shrugs. "Not really. I'm more the TV show sort of guy." Not that he really watches those a lot either; occasionally he has bursts where he marathons watching a show, or a series of movies, but it's nothing regular.

"Yes, John told me," she says. "Well. Since my nephew is such a chickenshit," at that point she throws John a look, and John ducks his head and clears his throat, "it's at me to tell you."

Before Rodney's brain can concoct up too many scenarios as to what is going on – family secret? But what does that have to do with Rodney's habit of watching movies? – she continues.

"I'll just say it. John is an actor."

Rodney blinks and tilts his head. "An actor." He turns to stare at his boyfriend. "You... what? Why the hell is this such a big deal?" Okay, Rodney doesn't have a high opinion of most artists, but John obviously does have a brain and knows how to use it, Rodney knows as much. There's really no reason for John to make such a fuss about it.

John ducks his head again. "Uhm. I'm sort of... well, some people know me."

May snorts. "What he means is that he's famous and the two of you are lucky you haven't been caught by paparazzi yet."

Rodney's mouth drops open. "Paparazzi?!"

He and John don't go out much. Rodney doesn't really enjoy it – he gets sunburnt easily, and he doesn't like people. John occasionally accompanies him on his early morning think-walks, but other things – John's running and occasional surfing – or grocery shopping they do on their own. They spend the evenings, nights and the week-ends together, not usually working days.

"Uh, well," John says; he looks terribly embarrassed and can barely meet his eyes. "I played in a couple of sort of famous movies. I thought... well, it was obvious you didn't recognise when we met. But that's not why," he hastily adds when he sees Rodney's expression. "It was just part of what made me curious. I've been meaning to tell you earlier, but, uh... I sort of didn't."

Looking back and forth between May and John suspiciously, Rodney leans back a little. "What movies?"

"Uhm," John makes. "Childhood's End? Thirty-Eight Minutes?" When Rodney just looks at him blankly, he clears his throat and continues. "Ghost in the Machine, Conversion, Coup D'Etat, No Man's Land, The Kindred, the _Wraithkiller_ movies..."

"Wait wait wait," Rodney interrupts. "The _Wraithkiller_ Trilogy? I watched those movies!" He might also have watched one or two of the others, or at least heard from them because they sounded vaguely familiar, but the three Wraithkiller movies are some of those he watches all in one go, like Star Wars or Matrix. No wonder John had looked at him weirdly when he had suggested watching them and had, instead of replying, distracted him with very hot sex. He had completely forgotten that incident, but now he remembers.

"I know," John says. He's staring at his lap, where he's nervously crumbling a cookie between his index finger and thumb, bit by bit.

"You weren't... oh my god, you are Colonel Flannigan!" Rodney gapes. Now that he knows, it makes perfect sense and he has no idea how he could've missed it, but it's not like he expects to actually run into the actors of lead characters of the SciFi movies he watches.

John ducks his head again. "I didn't... ah, I didn't know how to tell you. I mean, I've never met someone who didn't recognise me within five minutes of meeting me, if they didn't know who I was from the beginning. Well, not since I was a teenager anyway," he adds.

"You were famous as a teenager already?", Rodney repeats dumbfounded. This is getting weirder and weirder.

"I was a famous actress, dear," May says. "Back then you didn't have to do everything, like they have to do nowadays to stay successful." She snorts. "It was a right scandal when I took in my sister's seven years old son after her death; I was in my mid-twenties and neither married nor was I in a relationship. Peoples ran crazy butting into my business, questioning whether I was fit to raise a child. They always paid a lot of attention to him after, especially when he started to dabble in the business as well."

John grimaces and shrugs at the same time. "I got used to it. Learned to keep stuff to myself." Which explains how John is so brilliant at evading topics he doesn't want to talk about.

"Uhm, okay," Rodney says. "What does that mean? For us, I mean," he clarifies when John looks confused. He just has no idea what to think now, but an insistent part of his brain keeps asking one question, and he voices it. "Why is this such a big deal? It's not like you're a porn star or anything, not that there's anything shameful about that either."

John blinks and shares a look with his aunt. "Well. I just thought... it's important?"

May snorts and elaborates, "The big deal is, Rodney, that you're lucky as hell nobody has found out yet. At some point people will, and then the press won't leave you alone anymore. You don't have to give any interviews or something, but you should expect to be photographed when you go buy a bottle of water, and they will probably make up a lot of stupid, outrageous rumours. The fact that you're a guy is outrageous enough already, even though you aren't the first homosexual relationship John's been in."

"Hm." Rodney tilts his head and thinks it over. It's not like he cares what people he doesn't even know think about him. In fact, he doesn't even care what people he does know think about him; he has his job, a nice apartment, a lovely cat and a gorgeous boyfriend. If people want to see pictures of him buying stuff, fine. It's not like he has any secrets, and those that he does have are being zealously protected by the Military; Rodney doesn't have to worry. If people really start to bother him, his bodyguards will just have to start being more visible.

He says as much, and May laughs and excuses herself to go make more hot chocolate while John blinks at him. "Really?", he asks, and Rodney throws him a derisive look.

Ducking his head again, John smiles; one of the secret, private smiles, and wow, so much makes so much more sense now, Rodney thinks. John's charming persona that always annoys Rodney and that he dropped within twenty minutes into their first date; the way he's able to handle other people so smoothly. Really, now that he knows, it's obvious that John has a lot of experience at deflecting both people and uncomfortable topics.

"Next time you have something important to tell me," Rodney says, "you just do it. It's obvious you don't have enough practise at using your brain to worry about the right things."

"Sure, Rodney," John replies, takes hold of Rodney's chin and kisses him once, twice and a third time before they're interrupted.

"The hoover is in the cupboard, John," May calls from the kitchen. "Go clean up that mess you made!"

"And stop treating perfectly nice, home-made cookies like that," Rodney adds as John rises, scattering crumbles everywhere.

"Sure, Rodney," John says again. Rodney hopes he won't wear that stupid smile when the paparazzi show up; it makes him look demented.


End file.
